CHAPTER 1
Drip
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'RUN JAY! RUN, AND NEVER LOOK BACK, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR MOTHER AND I!'
'DAD, NO~!'
The whirring sound of the tram car going opposite my own brought me back to reality of where I was. I checked where we were.
'We're almost there...' I thought to myself before checking the time. With a smile, I thought, 'Good. I was almost sure that the Tram would end up being super late.' Suddenly, the synthesized voice of the tram announcement rang out.
"Now arriving at: Lapillus Station South." Hearing my destination being called, I grabbed my luggage, and waited by the door, watching as my tram slowed to a halt, and the clear panes opened, spilling out passengers. I stepped out into a large, mostly white-tiled room that would put any of the stations back home in New Jersey to shame, though upon further examination, it did look pretty sketchy. As I stepped out, I could see a set of seats back-to-back to one another a few feet forward and to the left. Around ten yards in front of where I got out was a fast-food stand, with a vending machine next to it, and to the left of that were two doors that had a sign above that said "BATHROOM." It was a little hard to tell if the short girl who was picking me up was here or not, since the station had crowded with people. I felt a small tap on my right arm. Immediately, I turned my head to see my baby cousin, Ami, standing there with this stupidly wide grin on her face. Ami was about five feet tall, with dark brown hair and brown eyes, and today she wore a black jacket, a pair of khaki pants, and some running shoes. Since we had always kept in touch, but had been unable to see one another for quite a while, we both appreciated the chance to catch up, despite the fact that this wasn't in the least what I'd consider "good conditions."
"Hey, Shorty," I said teasingly, "how have you been?" she hit me in the arm lightly and took one of my bags.
"Well, aren't you rude, mister 'I-don't-have-anywhere-to-stay-and-I-need-a-place?' I have been fine, thank you." She laughed, before saying seriously, "How've you been though? I know that having both your mom and dad go in the same day could be real painful…" I smiled somberly, and then replied,
"I'm okay, for now, though that might be the anti-depressants talking. We'll know when I start trying to find work here. You said Lapillus is a real small town?" she looked up in a thinking motion.
"Hmm, not necessarily small, just a real suburban area. Shouldn't be too hard to get used to, provided you have a bike of some varying degree." We began to walk towards the exit, "Oh, and a few things you should know. One, the school here has a bullying issue, so watch out for that, two, there's a lot of stray kittens, so always have some kind of cat food if you want to see them often, and three, don't stay out past twelve, all right? That one especially MUST be followed, no matter who says otherwise." That made a chill rush down my body.
"Sure sure, but uh, why?" She gave me a dark glare.
"Just hope you aren't out past 12 to have an answer to answer that." I shrugged it off, though I tried to keep it in the back of my mind.
"Anyway," I said, trying to change the subject desperately and avoid anything that sounded straight out of a video game, "how's Aunt Kay?" Ami returned to her normal, pleasant self.
"She's okay. I still can't force her to take her meds if she doesn't want to…"
"Hey, I'm happy she's taking them period, you know?"
"Can't argue with you there." Ami said in finality. We were outside now, and Aunt Kay's mini-van had pulled up, and we began to put the luggage in the trunk. After we got that finished, and were inside, Aunt Kay and I had a mostly pleasant conversation. The mini-van was a maroon red from the exterior, and was your average family vehicle, though it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while. Aunt Kay was thirty-five, and like her daughter, she had dark brown hair and dark eyes. Unlike Ami, however, she wore a light blue jacket and black pants. Again, like Ami, she avoided the topic of the Midnight Curfew. I sighed after five minutes of me trying to pry them for information.
"Look," I said, "I don't really care; it's just that, its 11:58 now, so…" Ami and Aunt Kay's eyes went wide with panic. It was around that time that I noticed that cars on the roads were unusually scarce, and Aunt Kay was starting to drive just that much faster so that I noticed, and Ami became just that much more jumpy to where I noticed that too… "Okay," I started, really getting fed up with this, "if this is a joke, this isn't funny. What the hell is going-" I got interrupted when the car hit something hard, hard enough for alarm. A loud screeching noise sounded from outside, and suddenly, the car felt like something had jumped on top of it.
"Both of you, out of the car, now!" Aunt Kay shouted. Before I had time to react, Ami had pulled me out of the car and onto the pavement. Ami looked above and behind me in horror at something I couldn't see. Suddenly, all sound in the world ceased, except for one…
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Pant
Ami covered her mouth, and fell to the ground in fear, while the memories of my parents' deaths swirled in my mind, joined with the terrible sight of the beast before us...
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Pant
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Pant
Those were the sounds that resonated as I stared up at the silhouette etched out by the crescent moon's strange red gaze. From what little light there was, I saw the saliva dripping from the mouth of this beast; it carried the hind legs of a powerful Crocodile, its tail was the long neck and head of a serpent, it's back carried the head of a goat, and its front (main head, front paws, chest) were that of a proud Lion.
"C-Chimera…" I whispered, having known the beast from mythology. It leaped down from the crushed roof of the mini-van, and the Lion's head glared into my eyes, and we were but inches from one another. It reeled back, and lifted its viciously large claw to attack. I scrambled to my feet as one of the claws scraped my face and sent me flying into the asphalt. I got up to try and help Ami get away from the Chimera, but it seemed to be focused on just me.
What happens next, you may find…Hard to believe, and as if this shit isn't hard enough to believe as-is. While the Chimera was trying to swing its paw to attack again, and this all happens in the span of about three seconds, something in me went off. I could never tell you what it is, maybe just instinct to survive, who knows. Cyan outlined my vision for a moment, and then I heard it; a loud, powerful, confident roar of a beast that was strong and it knew it. Suddenly, a pressure built rapidly in my head. I gripped my head as it felt like a melon about to split. Then, out of what I could only describe as instinct, came my voice, shouting a single word into the night sky.
"PERSONA!"